Cassandra wished she hadn’t said anything—especially anything Lord Lakehurst could overhear. “It is nothing, really.”
“Cassie,” Ann said with the familiarity of family, “you know you are not going to get away with that,” she admonished.
Cassandra sat down. “Mr. Farrow is of the mind that it is only a matter of time before I accept his suit.”
“He wishes to marry you?” Lord Lakehurst asked.
She nodded ruefully. “And because he has the intention, he makes remarks about the marriage bed,” she admitted.
“No!” exclaimed her brother, Ann, and Mrs. Hallowell while Lord Lakehurst swore, “Bloody hell!”
All eyes in the room turned in their direction. Cassandra saw a dark blush rush up into Lakehurst’s face.
“I beg your pardon, ladies,” he said tightly, bowing his head slightly. “Ellinbourne!” he then said, turning to the Duke.
“I know. I need to disabuse him of his pretensions—and speak to Tidemark for not doing so!”
“I should be doing that,” Cassandra said. “But until this past week, I have been much too complacent with the Tidemarks.”
“What changed?” Ann asked gently, drawing her down to sit on the sofa next to her. The others took chairs nearby.
Cassandra smiled, for the knowledge had just come to her and filled her soul with a new peace—and, curiously, questions. “Your company, your interest in me,” she said, “and honestly, Lord Lakehurst’s book.”
“My book!” Lakehurst said. “But it frightened you. I don’t understand.”
“Yes, it did frighten me because it brought with it a flood of memories that I had been repressing in daylight but relived almost nightly in my dreams.”
“Your nightmares,” her brother said. “Tidemark told me you suffered nightmares.”
“You poor dear,” Mrs. Hallowell said, reaching over to gently squeeze her hand.
Cassandra smiled back at her. “It’s all right,” she said softly. She looked over at the others. “It was strangely cathartic,” she admitted with a confused frown. “I haven’t had a nightmare since I read those pages. But I do have thoughts and questions I didn’t have before.”
“Like what?” her brother asked.
“What is most concerning to me—as I think on it—is neither Alex nor I were supposed to be there. We were to be visiting friends. But someone went to the trouble of assuring we were in residence that night.”
Her brother frowned, as did Lord Lakehurst.
“What do you mean?” her brother asked.
Lord Lakehurst leaned forward in his chair, his elbows resting on his knees as he stared intently at her.
“When Richard had his meetings, we had long established neither Alex nor I would be in residence. Neither would most of the staff. They were regularly given the night off, except he let old Carlyle stay as he saw to the horses and he is deaf.”
“But you were there this time,” Lakehurst said.
She nodded. “That day, we were to leave to visit with friends in Wells for a week, Baron and Lady Loftbridge. They have two children near Alex’s age, so it is a treat for Alex. But before we left, I received a letter—ostensibly from the baron—asking us not to come. They had an outbreak of the pox on their estate and in town. He did not want to risk our health. Richard was not happy with that news. He made me promise I would keep Alex with me and keep the doors to my rooms locked. He said his guests could get rowdy, and he didn’t want any unintentional drunken mistakes made by the guests that could be prevented.”
“That was thoughtful,” Ann observed.
Her brother nodded slightly, confusion still clinging to his face.
“The letter was a forgery,” Lakehurst said.
“Yes, though I did not discover that until afterward.”
“Someone wanted to do mischief that night,” Mrs. Hallowell said.
